Sled.



No. 869,170. PATENTED-OOT. 22. 1907, R. E. POOTE,

SLED.

APPLICATION rum) DEG.29,1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I l I THE NORRIS PE'P'ERS'CILpWASHINGTON. n. c.

ROBERT E. FOOTE, OF HARVEY, ILLINOIS.

SLED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1907.

Application filed December 29, 1906- Serial No. 350.084:-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT E. Foo'rn, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Harvey, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented new and useful Improvements in Sleds, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to manually or motor-propelled sleds, one of itsobjects being to provide a sled in which the spurred propelling wheel isprojected by spring pressure against the surface of the snow or ice soas to have a yielding movement for free passage over obstructions orirregularities of surface to prevent injury to the same or drivingmechanism thereof, the construction being such as to regulate the springpressure as desired and to throw the wheel out of operation to permitthe sled to coast.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for convenientlyturning the front steering runners to steer the sled, and means toincline all of the runners in making a turn so that the sled may beturned with facility and skidding prevented.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure l is a side elevation of a sledconstructed in accordance with my invention and as adapted to bemanually propelled. Fig. 2 is an opposite side elevation of the same.Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, the plane of section being denoted bythe line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the frameand front runners and steering gear on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 isa detail section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2, looking upward to show the meansfor shifting the wheel supporting frame.

The frame of the sled may vary considerably in construction, but in theform shown comprises a pair of longitudinal side bars 1 secured to andconnected at front by a stationary transverse plate 2, which extends atits ends beyond the bars and forms one of the members of a fifth wheel,the rear ends of the bars being connected by a transverse bar 3.U-shaped standards 4 rise from the side bars and support a seat board orplatform 5.

An axle 6 is arranged below the forward ends of the bars 1 and the plate2 and is provided with a central bolster 7 having a circular headadapted to turn in contact with the plate 2 and pivotally connectedtherewith by a king bolt 8, thus forming a fifth wheel connection onwhich the axle swings. Brackets 9 are pivotally mounted for lateralmovement upon the ends of the axle by pins or bolts 10 and support frontsteering runners 11, having upwardly extending spaced attaching plates12 detachably secured to the brackets by bolts 13, whereby runners ofdifferent construction may be applied for use on snow or ice. Thebrackets have upwardly extending arms 14 slotted to receive the ends ofthe axle and the outer ends of guide arms or levers 15, which levers arepivotally connected thereto by pins or bolts 15. The inner ends of thelevers 15 are formed with downturned guide fingers 17 which projectdownwardly through and are fitted to slide freely in guide slots 18,which slots are of the cam type or curve on arcs slightly eccentric tothe king bolt or axis of the axle 6. The fingers may have journaledthereon friction rollers to run in said slots, and their lower ends arepivotally connected with the axle by links 19. The slots 18 are soformed as to shift levers l5 inwardly or outwardly, accordingly as theaxle is swung in one direction or the other, so that said levers willimpart a lateral swinging movement to the steering runners to tilt orincline the same toward the side or in the direction in which the sledis making the turn, thus simulating the inclined steering action ofskates to facilitate the turning of the sled and reduce liability ofskidding to the minimum. The levers 15 are adapted to be engaged by thefeet of the rider, whereby they may be shifted to swing the axle andsteer the sled as desired.

The rear runners 20 are similar in construction to the front steeringrunners and are secured in the same manner to brackets 21 whose slottedarms 22 are pivoted by bolts 23 for lateral movement upon the ends of astationary rear axle 24 secured to the rear cross piece or bolster 3.The upper ends of the arms of the two brackets 21 are pivotally attachedby bolts 25 to a transverse connecting rod 26 arranged to slide inguides 27 on the rear endsof the bars 1. The rear runners are notdesigned to turn in the steering of the sled, but tilt similarly to thefront steering runners for the purpose described. To this end, provisionis made for transversely shifting the rod 26 to swing the runners 20transversely to the desired inclination, such means comprising a bellcrank lever 28 having a slotted arm 29 receiving and engaging a pin 30on the rod 26, the other arm of said lever being coupled to the frontaxle by a connecting rod 31. When the front axle is turned in onedirection or the other, the bell crank lever will be operated to slidethe bar or rod 26 either to the right or left, whereby the rear runnerswill be inclined in an obvious manner.

A propelling wheel 32 is provided to propel the machine over the surfaceof the ice or snow. This wheel is formed or provided with peripheralspurs or teeth 33 of any preferred form and arrangement and is carriedby a shaft 3 L journaled at its ends in the side pieces of a verticallymovable frame or yoke 35, which is prefer ably of inverted U-shape. Thelower ends of the side pieces of this frame are provided with forwardlyand dl extending li arms 3 one of which i I means for locking the leverin a variety of adjusted posipivoted ona shaft 37 journaled in a bearing38 on one of the frame bars 1, the other arm being provided with ajournal or trunnion turning in a bearing 39 on the other bar 1, wherebythe frame is mounted to swing vertically to raise and lower thepropelling wheel. Spaced ears or bracket pieces 40 are carried by theupper portion or cross piece of the frame 35, and to these ears ispivotally connected a U-shaped bracket 41 in which is slidably mountedone end of a bolt or rod 42, the other end of which is pivotallyconnected with a shifting lever 43 pivoted at one end to the undersideof the seat board 5, as indicated at 44. A stout coiled spring 45surrounds the rod or bolt between the lever and bracket 41 and exertspressure thereon to normally force the wheel carrying frame 35downwardly and rearwardly to throw the propelling wheel into opera tion.By means of the lever 43, which swings in a direction longitudinally ofthe seat board 5, the frame 35 may be adjusted to raise or lower thewheel, so tha the spurs or teeth thereof may be embedded to a greater orless extent in the snow or ice to regulate the tractive power thereof,the pressure of the spring on the wheel thus being correspondinglyregulated. The lever extends at one end beyond the seat board and isprovided with an upright operating handle 46 and is adapted to interlockwith a rack 47 having a plurality of teeth or notches, whereby the levermay be secured in a variety of different positions to hold thepropelling wheel at different elevations. The wheel may thus be adjustedto suit different conditions of service and may be elevated entirelyabove the surface of the snow or ice to permit the sled to coast inmaking turns and descending grades, and as the bracket 41 is free toslide on the bolt against the resistance of the spring 45, it will bereadily understood that the wheel is resiliently mounted to pass overobstructions and irregularities of surface without injury.

The shaft 37 carries a crank gear 48 meshing with a pinion 49 on theshaft of the propelling wheel, whereby the latter may be driven. Motormechanism of any preferred kind may be employed to drive this gearing,but in the present instance I have shown the sled as adapted for manualpropulsion. An oscillating hand lever 50 is mounted upon the frontportion of the frame so as to be conveniently operated by the rider andis connected with the crank of the gear 48 by a pitman rod 51, wherebyon oscillating the lever the gearing will be driven.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings,the construction and mode of operation of my improved sled will bereadily understood without further description, and the advantages ofthe improved features of construction will be appreciated.

Having thus described the invention, what is tions.

2. In a sled, the combination of a frame, tilting runners at the rear ofthe frame, a swinging axle at the front of the frame, tilting steeringrunners carried by the axle, means for tilting said steering runners asthe axle swings,

and a connection between the front axle and rear tilting runners toeffect the tilting of the latter.

3. In a sled. the combination of a frame, tilting runners at the rear ofthe frame, a swinging axle at the front of the frame, levers forswinging the axle, said levers being pivotally connected with said axle,front steering runners pivotally connected with the axle and levers,guiding means for the levers for tilting said steering runners as theaxle swings, and means for imparting motion from the front axle to therear tilting runners to effect the tilting of the latter.

4.1m a sled, the combination of a frame having cam slots at the frontthereof. tilting runners at the rear of the frame, a swinging axle atthe front of the frame to the axis of which the slots are eccentricallyarranged, steering runners pivotally mounted on the axle, steeringlevers pivotally connected with the runners and having portions slidingin said slots, whereby the levers when moved to turn the axle will beshifted to tilt said steering ing the propelling wheel, said yoke havingits cross bar upwardly disposed, a lever arranged to swinglongitudinally of the frame, a rod or bolt pivotally connected with thelever and slidably and pivotally connected with the head of the yoke, aspring surrounding the bolt and exerting pressure on the swinging framefor tilting the latter downwardly, and means for locking the lever in avariety of adjusted positions.

7. In a sled, the combination of a main frame provided with runners, apropelling wheel, a vertically swinging yoke-shaped frame having itscross bar upwardly disposed, said frame being provided with angular armspivoted upon the main frame, an adjusting lever movable longitudinallyof the main frame for raising and lowering the swinging frame, a rod orbolt pivoted to the lever and slidably and pivotally connected with thehead of the swinging frame, a spring surrounding the bolt and exertingpressure on the swinging frame to force the same downwardly andreurwardly, and means for locking the adjusting lever in a variety ofpositions.

8. In a sled, the combination of a main frame provided with runners, apropelling wheel, a yoke-shaped frame carrying said propelling wheel,said frame having its head portion or cross bar upwardly disposed andbeing provided at its lower end with forwardly projecting arms pivotedon the main frame, an adjusting lever arranged to swing longitudinallyof the main frame for raising and lowering the swinging frame, a rod orbolt pivoted to the lever and slidably and pivotally connected with theswinging frame, a spring surrounding the bolt and exerting pressure onthe swinging frame to force the latter downwardly and rearwardly, andmeans for locking the lever in a variety of adjusted positions.

9. A sled provided with front and rear sets of laterally tiltingrunners, swinging means for tilting the front set of runners, slidingmeans for tilting the rear set of runners, and an operative connectionbetween said swinging and sliding means.

10, A sled provided with front and rear sets of laterally tiltingrunners, swinging means for tilting the front set of runners, guidingmeans associated with said swinging means for moving the front runnersin a determined path, sliding means for tilting the rear set of runners,and bell crank lever, whereby the two sets of runners are 10 anoperative connection between said swinging tilting adapted to be tiltedin unison.

means and the sliding tilting means, whereby the sets of In testimonywhereof, I ailix my signature in presence runners are adapted to betilted in unison. of two witnesses.

11. A sled provided with front and rear sets of laterally tiltingrunners, swinging means for tilting the front set ROBERT FOOTE' ofrunners, sliding means for tilting; the rear set of run- Witnesses:ners, a bell crank lever for operating the sliding means, .T. C. GORMEN,

and a. connecting rod between said swinging means and C. H. APPLEGALE.

